Hame-fastener



(No Model.)

I. HOWLAND.

HAME PASTENER. N0. 339,653. Patented Apr. 13, 1886.

N. PETER$ "Mo-Wm Vin-Nam D. C.

ilnrrn STATES ISAAC HOXVLAND, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HAME-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,653, dated April-13, 1886.

A pplicntion filed December 7,1855.

To (LZZ whom' it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC HOWLAND, a citi zen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Harrie-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more particularly to improvements in what are commonly known as kidneylink hame-fasteners. These kidney-links, as heretofore made, consist simply of a kidney-shaped link having an opening in the upper or concave branch of the link, near the middle, for inserting the eyes of the hames and the ring. As these links are not permanently attached to either side of the hames great inconvenience has been experienced in their practical use by reason of the rings becoming disengaged from the link or the link from the hames, so that one or the other are frequently lost. These links, as well as the rings and hames, are usually plated with silver, niekle, or other metal, so that the parts cannot be fastened together before the plating without interfering with such operation, and after the plating the parts cannot be forged or manipulated without injury to the plating.

The object of my invention is to provide a kidney-shaped link, which may be separately plated and yet permanently attached to one of the hanies, and to which the ring may be permanently secured, and at the same time admit of the ring playing freely from side to side, and thus prevent all danger of losing either the link or the ring or their becoming disengaged from the hame, and my invention consists in a kidney-shaped link having a hook at one end for attachment to one of the hames and an oblong closed eye or recess at its other end, formed by bending the extremity of the upper or concave branch of the kidney-shaped link down against the lower branch of said link, which closed eye or receptacle affords a means of permanently attaching the link to one of thehames and also the ring to thelink. The link should be made of Bessemer steel rod or other somewhat resilient metal, so that this closed branch of the link may be forced open with a wedge or other suitable implement, to permit the ring to be inserted in the link and the link secured to one of thehames. The upper or con- Serial No. 184,947. (No model.)

cave curved branch of the kidney-shaped link serves to continue the line of the hames around the collar and to give support to the collar at its base.

In the accompanying drawingswhich form apart of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure l is an elevation of a device embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the closed branch of the link slightly forced apart to permit of its being attached to the hame or the ring inserted.

In said drawings, A A represent the hames having the usual eyes, a a, at their lower ends for the reception of the kidney-shaped link B; and C is the ring. The upper or concave branch, I), of the kidney-shaped link has an opening, I), near one end, thus forming a hook, If, at one end of the link, by means of which it may be engaged with or disengaged from the eye of the hame A. The end Z) of the up per branch of the kidney-shaped link is bent or turned, preferably, about at right angles to said branch, so as to lit against the lower branch of the link, and thus form an oblong-closed eye, 0, for the ring C, in which said ring may play from side to side, and also by means of which the link may be permanently secured in the eye of the hame A. The length of the eye c,which receives the ring, may be varied; but it preferably should extend nearly the whole length of the link B, giving room of course for the hook I)", so that the ring may have greater latitude to play from side to side.

To insert the ring C in the eye 0 of the kidney-shaped link B, the upper branch, 11, of said link is forced apart, as shown in Fig. 2, in any suitable manner-as, for example, by inserting a wedge near the right-hand end of the link-when the ring and the hame may be inserted in the eye of the link. By this means the ring, link, and hames may each be sep-' hook b at one end and closed eye 0 at the other end, formed by the upper branch, I), and its bent end I), fitting against the lower branch of said link, and the ring 0, substantially as specified. I

2. The hame-fastener provided with kidney-sl1aped link 13, hook I) at one end and eye 0 at its other end, formed by upper branch, I), of said link, having its end If bent down against the lower branch of said link, so that said branch I) and its end I) may be sprung open for insertion of the hanie-eye, substan tially as specified.

3. The kidney-shaped-linl: hame-fastener consisting of a kindey-shaped link, B, having a lower curved branch and an upper curved 

